The invention relates to a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to a method of fabricating a mask for a semiconductor device capable of easily correcting a mask defect.
Several photolithography processes are performed to form patterns on a semiconductor substrate in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device. The photolithography process requires a mask which has fine patterns to form the patterns on the substrate. However, when such a mask is fabricated, a defect sometimes occurs on the mask so that the mask is rejected.
A common reason for rejection of the mask is an occurrence of defects such as a bridge that causes adjacent patterns to be connected to each other in a process of forming the patterns on the mask. Another common reason for rejection of the mask is that a size of the patterns increases due to residue accumulation in the pattern. Usually, the defect is corrected by inspecting the mask after fabricating the mask and performing a repair process for a detected defect. The repair process is performed by irradiating a laser beam onto the mask defect.
However, during such a repair process, the laser beam may cause damage to a material formed on the mask so that a phase or transmittance of the patterns is adversely affected. Specifically, when a large number of defects exist on the mask such that the repair process becomes tedious, mask quality cannot be guaranteed after performing the repair process. Also, the yield of the semiconductor devices in the mask fabricating process cannot be improved because the repair process is time consuming.
Accordingly, a method for effectively correcting mask defects without requiring a time consuming repair process is desired.